


Dirty Little Secret

by SailorSol



Category: Power Rangers, Power Rangers Dino Thunder, Power Rangers Turbo
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, Friendship, Gen, M/M, One Big Happy Ranger Family, STH Continuity, Secret Relationship, Secrets
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-13
Updated: 2012-08-13
Packaged: 2017-11-12 00:47:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,885
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/484756
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SailorSol/pseuds/SailorSol
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Ethan has the misguided idea of hiding a secret from his coworkers, and retired Rangers equate "suddenly consistently late to work" with "has been replaced by a clone".</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dirty Little Secret

**Author's Note:**

> Title from the All-American Rejects song "Dirty Little Secret".
> 
> This is Hagar's fault, and I mean that in the best possible way. She asked, I delivered. Happy (late) birthday!
> 
> GTI is the company that Cam owns and TJ runs and a whole bunch of Rangers work at, as mentioned briefly in our shared story [Salt](http://archiveofourown.org/works/357596). Technically that makes this story an AU, but for all intents and purposes, this story doesn't really contain any direct AU elements, and reading "Salt" is not required, as this story comes first, chronologically.
> 
> (And I changed the summary because I think the one Hagar came up with suits it much better.)

“He’s been acting weird,” Justin said by way of greeting.

TJ looked up from the project schedule he’d been updating. “Who?”

“Ethan,” Justin replied, dropping down into the chair next to TJ’s desk without asking. “He’s been coming in late.”

“You realize we don’t have set business hours around here, don’t you?” TJ asked dryly. “He can come and go as he pleases, as long as he gets his work done.”

Justin scowled at him. “We’re engineers, Teej. We thrive on routine. Set schedules or not, he’s come in to work every day by 8:30 since he started working here. Except for the last three weeks, when he hasn’t been showing up until almost ten.”

“Have you talked to him about it?” TJ asked. He couldn’t help but wonder if Justin was making a big deal out of nothing, even if sudden behavior changes were one of the things most Rangers were wary of.

“Claims he’s been having trouble sleeping,” Justin replied.

“And you don’t believe him.” He tried to keep his voice neutral, an invitation for Justin to offer evidence.

“If he was telling the truth, he wouldn’t look so guilty about it,” Justin said. “You know how bad of a liar he is. Look, I came to you first, because he’s still acting like Ethan. He’s just… keeping a secret.”

TJ sighed. “Did you ever consider that it’s none of your business?”

“You’re one to talk,” Justin shot back. “You need to know everything about everyone.”

TJ rolled his eyes, ignoring Justin’s barb. “If he says it’s none of your business, do him a favor and drop it.”

Justin looked worried more than frustrated. “That’s just the thing. If he told me it was none of my business… Well, I wouldn’t drop it,” Justin admitted with a shrug. “But he won’t even acknowledge that there’s something going on that he doesn’t want me to know about.”

TJ considered his options. Ethan and Justin had hit it off from moment one; they were both about the same age, and pretty much the only single people working at the company. And they’d both been Blue Rangers, with Tommy as a teammate. Justin’s concerns weren’t unfounded, if Ethan wasn’t confiding in his closest friend at GTI.

“I’ll talk to him,” TJ said. “Try not to give him a hard time in the meantime?”

Justin grinned, bouncing to his feet. “Sure thing, Boss,” he said, darting out the door of TJ’s office before TJ could do more than scowl in return.

Days like these, TJ felt like he was running a daycare instead of a tech firm.

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, Ethan came in to TJ’s office as requested.

“Shut the door and have a seat,” TJ said.

Ethan closed the door and sat down on the edge of the chair. “Did I do something wrong?” he asked warily.

“If you had, would you tell me?” TJ asked lightly.

Ethan’s response was not unexpected as he slid back into his chair, the joke putting him at ease. “Only if you’d caught me first.”

TJ gave him a wry smile. “Just as long as it’s not something illegal, I probably don’t want to know.”

Ethan grinned. “So what did you want to see me about?”

And here’s where TJ needed to tread carefully. “You told Justin you haven’t been sleeping well lately?”

The good humor vanished from Ethan’s face, replaced by something between indignation and practiced blankness. For all he tried, Ethan was still rather easy to read, especially compared to some of his coworkers. He forced a shrug. “It’s no big deal. Probably drinking too much coffee before bed. You know how it goes.”

And yeah, he was definitely lying. TJ bit back his sigh of frustration. “You know he’s just worried,” he pointed out.

Ethan scowled. “Can’t a guy just try something different every now and then without having everyone jump down his throat about it and demand to know every little detail of what’s going on?” he muttered.

TJ raised an eyebrow at him. “So you’re just trying a new schedule?”

Ethan realized a moment too late that he’d walked into that trap. He huffed. “No. Yes.” He slouched in the chair like a teenager, crossing his arms. “Is it any of your business?”

TJ shrugged. “Not if you say it isn’t. But you know how well people around here react to secrets being kept. At least tell them that it’s something personal and you’ll discuss it with them when you’re ready?” he suggested.

“It’s not a secret,” Ethan argued. “I just don’t want to tell any of you about it yet.”

TJ couldn’t help the snort of amusement. “Do you want to think about how ridiculous that sounds?”

Ethan opened his mouth to respond, then snapped it shut again. TJ just waited for him to collect his thoughts. “Look, it’s nothing. I swear. I’m just… trying to figure some things out, and I don’t want everyone around here jumping to conclusions.”

“Okay,” TJ said easily. “Now go make sure you tell Justin that, otherwise he’s probably going to go to Cam and have him make sure you’re not a clone or something.” TJ made shooing motions, and Ethan took the hint, leaving TJ alone again.

* * *

Once Justin had pointed it out, it was hard for TJ not to notice that Ethan’s strange behavior extended past just a change in normal work hours. It wasn’t odd to see Ethan sending and receiving text messages half the day, but he rarely got phone calls. In the four days TJ had been watching, he’d taken five personal phone calls and ignored four more. 

TJ could have had CyberCam check to see who the calls were coming from, but it hadn’t quite reached that stage. When Ethan skipped the usual group lunch to go out, that’s when TJ started worrying.

Which meant paying Ethan’s other best friend and Red a visit. Conner was in pre-season training at the moment, so TJ waited for him in the parking lot of the soccer field after his practice was finished. The way Conner froze for a moment like a kid caught with his hand in a cookie jar didn’t bode well.

“Hey. What brings you here?” Conner asked, trying to sound casual, but TJ could see that his knuckles were white from gripping the ends of the towel still draped around his neck.

“Ethan’s been acting weird lately,” TJ said. “I was wondering if you’d noticed anything.”

Conner stuttered on a laugh. “You know Ethan. There’s probably some new video game out that’s eating up all his attention.”

TJ narrowed his eyes, then forced a smile onto his face and shrugged. “You’re allowed to keep secrets for your teammate, you know. But a tip for the future?”

“What’s that?” Conner asked warily.

“Lying about it will just make people more suspicious,” TJ told him.

Conner considered his advice for a long moment before nodding, his shoulders finally relaxing just a hair. “It’s nothing we can’t handle,” Conner said.

“So you know what’s going on with him, then,” TJ pressed.

“Yeah,” Conner admitted. 

TJ studied him, but this time he had no reason to believe the soccer player was lying to him. “Good enough for me, then. Try not to let things get out of hand before you ask for help.”

Conner snorted, looking more amused than TJ felt his statement warranted. “I’ll uh… I don’t think we’ll need it. But thanks.”

TJ shrugged and headed home. That was the best he was going to get, he supposed.

* * *

“AUGH!”

TJ followed the strangled noise of indignation to the break area. Justin was at the table, his forehead repeatedly connecting to the wood with a dull thud. Ethan was across from him, looking vaguely smug, with a bottle of liquor between them.

“Someone want to tell me why my employees are drinking in the middle of the work day and trying to give themselves a concussion?” TJ asked dryly.

Justin looked up, giving TJ his best baleful look--the same one he’d used when he’d been twelve and trying to avoid going home. He pointed at Ethan. “He’s a traitor.”

“Whoa, hey, harsh words!” Ethan protested, holding his hands up defensively.

“Look!” Justin declared. “Look at him! Look at what he’s wearing!”

TJ frowned, giving Ethan a second, longer look. Nothing seemed out of place at first--he was wearing a blue sports jersey with yellow stripes along the shoulders, and a pair of jeans. Standard Ethan fare, really, until TJ took a closer look and realized that this wasn’t just one of Ethan’s generic sports jerseys; for one thing, it was about two sizes too big for him. He narrowed his eyes. “Is that--”

“Yes!” Justin cut in before TJ could finish his question. His shouting had started to attract a crowd; Cam and Trip wandered in.

“What’s all the noise about?” Trip asked.

“Ethan’s wearing one of Conner’s soccer jerseys,” TJ said. Justin dropped his head down onto the table with another thunk.

“Huh,” Cam said. He didn’t sound particularly surprised, but TJ would have been shocked if he had been.

“I don’t get it,” Trip said.

“They’re dating,” Justin said scathingly. “He’s gone and gotten himself a boyfriend and now I’m the only one around here who’s single. And you are all disgustingly romantic,” he added, grabbing the bottle of vodka from the center of the table. He clutched it close to himself instead of opening it though.

“Sorry, bro,” Ethan said, sounding anything but apologetic. He was grinning broadly as he looked towards TJ, Cam, and Trip. “We wanted to figure things out between the two of us before announcing it to the whole world,” he offered.

“If you’re going to get drunk in the middle of the day, do stay away from the explosives,” Cam said to Justin. “I’m going back to work now,” he added to TJ, stalking out of the break room. TJ knew he’d probably check on Justin again later; Justin never tried to hide how much he disliked his single status, after all.

“So it’s official then?” TJ asked.

Ethan nodded. “We told Kira and Trent a couple days ago, and Dr. O and Hayley last night. Kira asked us what had taken us so long,” he added dryly.

TJ chuckled. Trip grabbed Ethan’s hand and started shaking it enthusiastically. “Congratulations! We should all go out and celebrate!”

Ethan’s grin faded a little as he glanced towards Justin. “It’s not that big of a deal,” Ethan said. “It’s only been a couple of weeks. Not like we’re getting married or something.”

“Can I go tell the others?” Trip asked, his enthusiasm untouched. Ethan nodded, and Trip bounced out gleefully.

Justin still looked like he was sulking, but he put the vodka back on the table. “Go figure,” he said. “Another Red and Blue couple.”

Ethan winced a little. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.”

Justin huffed, deflating a little. “I’m happy for you two. I really am. Just, you know… it sucks being single.”

TJ was glad to hear the truth in Justin’s words, even as Ethan grinned again. “Want me to introduce you to some of Conner’s teammates?” he asked wickedly.

And just like that, Justin was grinning again. “You’d better believe it.”


End file.
